With the end of the season and the start of more slow summer months, when all the talk is about transfer windows, it is the perfect time for us to take a step back and more closely inspect the previous campaign. As usual, we are doing this with season ending player reviews and in the third review, it is time for us to talk about Harry Maguire. Manchester United captain is probably the best example of chaotic times at the club, the symbol of rash decisions, weird moves and attempts to erase the previous mistakes.
Harry Maguire, expectedly, despite being the Man United captain, did not play much. That encapsulates it all well. He made a total of 31 appearanes, but only 15 of them were starts. He made mere 16 appearances in the Premier League, half of which after coming on as a substitute. He added seven appearances in Europa League, and four in each of the two domestic cups. That no one is surprised that the record-breaking signing from 2019 did not play much and was the fourth choice centre-back is a nice way of putting just how odd things have become with Maguire.
Playing just 762 minutes in the Premier League 2022-23 season, Maguire’s statistical output, according to FBREF, looks better than that of Victor Lindelof, about whom we wrote recently. But the Swede had a measurably greater impact on the team, especially in the run-in of the campaign, when United were light on centre-back options and when they actually managed to get better in terms of goals conceded. Looking at mere numbers, it is a curious stat to see that after losing the two opening matches to Brighton and Brentford with Maguire on the pitch for full 180 minutes, Man United won every other match in the league in which Maguire was in the starting lineup – against West Ham, Bournemouth, Leeds, Everton, Nottingham Forest and Fulham. But those opportunities were mostly carefully hand-picked by Erik Ten Hag, against sides where United were expected to win.
Analysing Maguire’s campaign is easy – he was not as bad as people often tried to make him, but he is simly not the player worth the money United invested in him and there are clearly better centre-back options in this squad. But analysing Maguire is more important in terms of the upcoming summer transfer window. Man United would be happy to sell him for 40 million pounds, almost half the money they spent on him when signing him from Leicester four years ago. And getting such amount of money seems almost unthinkable, considering the previous Maguire’s seasons.
With Man United eager to sign Kim Min-jae from Napoli in the same position, United will do everything they can to get rid of Maguire. This way they would also free themselves from the previous mistakes, such as handing Maguire the captaincy. There would be no need for uncomfortable conversations of giving the captaincy to someone who can actually lead the team on the pitch week in, week out. While some could be angry at Maguire, there should be more of those sympathetic – Harry Maguire is simply not the player everyone at Man United wanted him to become.
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